The pound sterling (£, GBP), is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories.
According to the Bank for International Settlements, the British pound is the fourth-most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the US dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen (Triennial Central Bank Survey, April 2007).
According to information published by the International Herald Tribune in December 2006, the sterling makes up the third-largest portion of global currency reserves, after the US dollar and the euro.
The full, official name pound sterling (plural: pounds sterling) is used mainly in formal contexts or when it is necessary to distinguish the British currency from other currencies that have the same name (i.e. the Egyptian, Lebanese, Sudanese, Syrian, Gibraltar, Falkland or Saint Helenian pound). Otherwise the term pound is normally used.
The official name is sometimes abbreviated to just "sterling", particularly in the foreign exchange markets, but not in amounts; so "payment accepted in sterling" but never "that costs eight sterling".
The term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. A common slang term is quid (plural quid).
The currency sign is the pound sign, originally ₤ with two cross-bars, then later more commonly £ with a single cross-bar, and the ISO 4217 currency code is GBP (Great Britain pound). Stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX (sometimes GBp), when listing stock prices.
Since decimalisation in 1971, the pound is subdivided into 100 pence (singular: penny). Before 1971 it was divided into 20 shillings and each shilling into 12 pence, making 240 pence to the pound.
|
